Past Lives: Hereditary And Environmental Influences
by Robert C. Smith
Let’s examine the role heredity and environment plays in our lives by looking at the relationship between these influences and the ones we bring with us from our previous incarnations. Thus far, our work has been based on the assumption that our interests and characteristics are strongly shaped by former lives. How, then, do we account for the effects of heredity and environment?
Modern genetics has shown pretty conclusively that we inherit through our genes not only our physical makeup, but many of our mental and psychological traits as well. If this is true, how can we say that past life influences, rather than simple genetics, have caused a person to be fat or thin, a mathematician rather than an artist, or whatever the case may be? (more…)
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Many Lives, Many Loves ~ Part II
by Gina Cerminara
I remember when I was going to college I saw a little item in the college paper which went like this:
Boy: Do you love me?
Girl: I love everybody.
Boy: Leave that to God. We should specialize.
When other items of far greater importance in my college curriculum have long since escaped me, I cannot imagine why this one should have made such a lasting impression; but the fact remains that it did. (more…)
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Many Lives, Many Loves
by Gina Cerminara
Love being a matter of the relationship of one unit of life to another, it is worth noting that in the Cayce data there is a basic proposition regarding human relationships. It can be stated as follows:
Souls who were closely related in one lifetime tend to meet in other lifetimes. If the relationship was one of love, the love persists; if one of enmity, the enmity must be overcome; if one of obligation, the obligation must be paid.
This is a plausible proposition, surely; for if we grant the continuity of life at all, and the operation of law governing it, it would seem likely that the powerful force of attraction between souls would have its own strong persistence; and wherever there has been hatred, deeds surely must have been done which require karmic rectification and hence a renewed association. Even in a love relationship there is usually a mixture of good and of bad; and all of us must have incurred debts therefore which we must pay, or deserved rewards which must be delivered. (more…)
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Tracing The Rules Of Reincarnation
by Robert C. Smith
We may have hunches about past lives. We may have theories about experiences in another time or place. Some of us may even have vivid past life dreams or flashes of waking recall. But what do such experiences really mean? Can they teach us anything about ourselves and how to live this life more fully? Unless we can answer yes to these questions, the study of past lives may be nothing more than an interesting past time, an indulgence of curiosity about ourselves that has little practical value.
But suppose, on the other hand, that the study of past lives is actually a look into the inner workings of the universe we live in, a glimpse into the purpose and orderliness of life. If this is so, then this investigation is a very important avenue to the answer to two of the most important questions mankind has ever asked: Why is life the way it is, and why am I the way I am? (more…)
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Past Life Influences ~ Part III
by Nancy C. Pohle & Ellen L. Selover
The following story provides an intriguing and complex illustration of many of the elements of past life memories, influences, and inclinations which have been discussed. It emphasizes the notion that the information becomes available as we have need of it and as we can apply it practically in our lives. Recognizing the source of strong emotional impulses and discovering relationships and karmic patterns that have traversed the limits of time are all part of this experience.
Lisette’s experience spans ten years, from her first spontaneous insight to the reconciliation of deep emotional pain and release of limiting beliefs. It began as an intuitive flashback so emotionally charged that she decided to seek additional guidance through meditation, dreams, past life regressions, and even a professional psychic. Over time, enough clues emerged that Lisette was able to formulate a clear message that she could apply to her life in helpful ways. (more…)
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Awakening Past Life Memories
by Robert C. Smith
Have you ever stepped outside on a warm spring night and found that the balmy air and the light fragrance of early blossoms awakened feelings almost too deep to describe? Or maybe you’ve had the experience of hearing a particular song from the past come on the radio, and all of a sudden that song transports you to another time and place. You not only remember what you were doing when you first heard the song, but you can even remember what you were thinking and feel what you were feeling then.
The sounds, sights, and smells around us—they are such powerful influences on our memories and emotions, and so individual in their effects on us. The same song can bring a happy memory for one person and a painful recollection for another. One person might feel a restless sense of adventure at the sound of a train whistle in the night, while another feels lonely desolation. Even the most common, everyday experiences can produce very different feelings in different people. For example, when you hear a telephone ring, do you experience anticipation? Annoyance? Some other reaction? Or maybe nothing at all? What is it about the sounds, sights, and smells around us that brings forth such a variety of responses from people? Is it something in these perceptions themselves that causes us to react differently from one another, or is it something in us? (more…)
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Past Life Influences ~ Part II
by Nancy C. Pohle & Ellen L. Selover
Enhancing Sensitivity to Past Life Influences
Answering the following questions can prompt an enhanced awareness of past life influences:
- To which countries and cultures do you feel an attraction or repulsion? What styles of furniture, architecture, clothing, and so on do you like? If the furnishing and accessories in your home or workplace reflect an interest in particular cultures, it is likely they are pertinent to a previous incarnation and are having an impact on your present circumstances.
- Do any nationalities or cultures come to mind when you meet a new person? If so, you both may be influenced by shared experiences from a previous lifetime. The dominant characteristics of that culture might give you clues about relating to that individual, based on remembered patterns and tendencies.
- What types of music, art, literature, and food do you most enjoy? Pursuing artistic endeavors is an excellent way to evoke past life talents and memories.
- What patterns do you see in the hobbies and activities you choose? Are there pastimes you share with others? This is a good way to determine the nature of any past life connections you may share.
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Past Life Influences ~ Part I
by Nancy C. Pohle & Ellen L. Selover
Reincarnation is the theory that, as souls, we each experience many lifetimes for the purpose of developing spiritually and becoming true co-creators with God. Some cultures and religious traditions teach the transmigration of souls; that is, that a soul can incarnate as human, animal, or even insect. However, in the model of reincarnation which Cayce embraced, the souls of humans, animals, and other creatures are totally different, with separate purposes and environments in which to seek perfection. If this is an accurate interpretation of the human soul’s appearances in the earth, then, potentially, we have all experienced numerous lives throughout human history, through diverse cultures, within all races, as both male and female, in every type of economic, social, and political circumstance. We may have experienced every religious conviction, devoted ourselves to a life of service or to amassing material wealth, raised families, lived a celibate life, and fought, killed, or died for our convictions. We may have experienced peace in an idyllic setting, felt the thrill of adventure and discovery, developed a gift or talent, or all of these. (more…)
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Spontaneous Recall Of Past Lives
by Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Just before we are reborn, the veil of forgetfulness descends to block our remembrance of our past lives. We come into life with a karmic history and a purpose, yet we have conscious access to neither. According to Eastern doctrine, forgetfulness is a blessing and enables the soul to make a fresh start in each incarnation. Otherwise, life would be made extremely complicated and confusing, perhaps even paralyzing. Nonetheless, we catch glimpses of the past in certain moments. Fragments and fleeting impressions and feelings bubble to the surface, only to be passed off as imagination in many instances. In some cases, a person may be swept into an incredible vision that unfolds before their eyes. There are many ways to experience past lives spontaneously: (more…)
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Reincarnation And Religious Tradition
by Gina Cerminara
For us of the Western world the idea of reincarnation is new and unaccustomed; for the Eastern world it is as old as the rising and setting of the sun, as familiar as the household doorstep.
Two ancient traditions in particular, Hinduism and Buddhism, have taught reincarnation; and there is a great deal that we can learn from both of them. Both Hinduism and Buddhism are founded on the authority of ancient books (those of Hinduism being the much more ancient of the two), and they have been subject to varying interpretations on the part of their own followers. In doctrine and in practice they have been colored by the temperament and history of the peoples who have accepted them. For these reasons we must expect that there will be many differences between the two faiths, even as regards the basic teaching of reincarnation. It is important also for us to recognize that their teachings may not be adaptable, in toto, by ourselves because we have a differing temperament, different historical and religious antecedents, and important new scientific horizons. (more…)
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Balance As A Role In Karma
by Gina Cerminara
Certainly there is nothing new in the thought that balance is important in human life. As long as men have been riding horses they have known that balance—equilibrium—is essential to successful horsemanship. Whether a man have for his sport swimming, bowling, wrestling, tennis, or golf, he knows that balance is necessary for good form and good performance.
Balance in the sense of proportion or symmetry was known to the ancient Greeks; in fact, principles of balance in this sense have been applied consciously or instinctively throughout all the history of art by any artist worthy of the name. (more…)
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Proofs of Reincarnation
by William W. Atkinson
To many minds the “proof” of a doctrine is its reasonableness and its adaptability as an answer to existing problems. And, accordingly, to such, the many arguments advanced in favor of the doctrine together with the almost universal acceptance of the fundamental ideas on the part of the race, in at least some period of its development, would be considered as a very good “proof” of the doctrine, at least so far as it might be considered as the “most available working theory” of the soul’s existence, past and future, and as better meeting the requirements of a doctrine or theory than any other idea advanced by metaphysical, theological, or philosophical thinkers. (more…)
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Race And Karma
by Gina Cerminara
Karma operates in such a way, it seems, that our every act and thought is exactly repaid in its own coin and in its own realm. If we do harm to another, physically or psychologically, we later suffer exactly the same kind of pain that we caused; if we haughtily feel ourselves superior to other people and treat them condescendingly, we may later find this attitude objectified by the humiliation of a body that is too tall or abnormally short—or we may find ourselves one day the member of a minority group that is despised by the majority; if we do injustices to groups of people, we are likely to suffer injustices later through the agency of comparable groups of people. Christ’s command to do unto others as you would have others do unto you is not merely a sentimental exhortation, but actually the elliptical statement of a mathematical equation and a law of psychodynamics. (more…)
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Sexual Relationships And Reincarnation
by Gina Cerminara
It seems that all of us have been men in some lifetimes and women in others. At least, sex change is generally accepted as a fact by most believers in reincarnation, such as Buddhists, Hindus, Theosophists, Rosicrucians, and others; and the Cayce readings, as well as the age-regression experiments of many investigators, provide confirmation for those who accept their validity.
No regular pattern of change is deducible from the Cayce data, however; it seems that one can be a man for one or more lifetimes and then a woman for one or more lifetimes, and so forth and so on; but what causes such changes, or when they occur, does not become clear by the Cayce data at least. (more…)
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Personality Traits And Reincarnation
by Gina Cerminara
In our daily experience with others, all of us come to recognize certain different types or traits which we classify by value systems of our own devising. There is the sociable, easy-to-talk-to-type, the reserved, difficult-to-talk-to-type, the selfish type, the egocentric type, and so on. Many psychologists have concluded also that people array themselves into fundamental groupings; and it was natural that they should attempt to establish a scientific basis for the groupings or types which they felt existed. From this point of view many typologies have emerged, notably those of Jung, Spranger, Kretschmer, and Rosanoff, all of which have merited serious scientific recognition.
Like a wise Solomon, the reincarnation principle supports both the trait and the type theory of personality; it also points up the incompleteness of both. If we take into consideration one system of types in the light of the Cayce readings, we shall see how this is so. (more…)
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